there was static
in the air

as he slowly
emptied himself
into her arms
with a tight fist
of the overused
four letter word ~


the moon shines
like a curse
as his last breaths
lingered in the
white noise
of 3 am silence

she forgot to inhale ~

a lump of frost
tightened inside
her throat
and she dropped like
shrinking mercury
on the floor

spreading apart
in the death
of stillness

separating
into pieces of
a gentle gray ache
into the
wishless sky ~

no one would dare
come to the edge
of mourning
where she grieved

not even
tears ~

she became the earth,
the grounding
parallel to the
deep yonder
with cold blue vowels

like the credits
of a silent film ~

rivers of words
rippled over her skin
as a red-lined metaphor
came up for air ~

treading amongst the
stillborn echoes

her fingers painted
zigzag patterns
of black and white
in the thick fog
of colourless
winters

and her lips
weaved stanzas
in past tense
at high tide ~